A Many Splendored Ka-ching

David Edwards sure enough believed him. All he had to do was look at his life.

"I always counted on the worst to happen." Not that some of that wasn't of his own making.

But then he started having these dreams, dreams about living in a grand house, about flying 'round in his own airplane. Strange stuff. They started about the time he was laid off from the best job he ever had.

The morning of the day he bought The Ticket, he opened his eyes, smiled at his fiancM-ie, Shawna Renae Maddux, and said, "I didn't want to wake up. I dreamed I was in this big mansion ... " He went on to explain it all.

Shawna laughed. "Let's both go back to sleep," she said.

Understandable, what with the water turned off, David needing back surgery he couldn't afford, and only two more unemployment checks to bank on. "I was," he says, "the lowest I've ever been."

But on that Saturday, unbeknownst to David, lightning would strike for the 46-year-old ex con, and he'd fall to his knees in a hotel parking lot praising the Lord, praising, praising, praising, to where Shawna had to holler outside that fancy hotel, "You get back in this car. People are going to think you're crazy."

And irony of ironies, upstairs in that very hotel in Ashland, Ky., was David's ex-wife holding her wedding reception. Makes him laugh even now to think about it.

That was a year ago last August. Seems light years now, as David sits behind a massive, carved wooden desk in his home office in a gated community in Palm Beach Gardens, a household staff puttering beyond the closed door, explaining how a $28 million-plus Powerball win can transform colossally a simple life.

Looking is believing. On his left wrist a watch wrought of 31/2 pounds of 24 karat gold and 18 carats of flawless diamonds. Perched on a finger, a diamond and gold ring costing $159,000, more than the price of some South Florida homes.

In the driveway, outside his office window, are poised a Ferrari 360 Spider, a Lamborghini Diablo convertible, a Shelby Series One, a Cadillac Esplanade truck with Corvette engine and mag wheels, a Bentley, a Viper, a Chevrolet Express Van, and usually, though not this instant, a car so rare that for the moment the name escapes David. More than $1.3 million in rubber and steel and head-turning, high-tech vroom just idling.

Suits of armor, handmade reproductions, stand in the foyer and living room. Seven thousand dollar suits hang in the master bedroom closet. Dolphin sculptures by marine artist Wyland decorate the pool area. And every bedroom, including that of his 12-year-old daughter, boasts state-of-the art computers and oversized plasma TVs.

The eclectic mix in his office bookcase, beneath the huge alabaster chandelier (got for a bargain in an estate sale), reflects the yin and yang of this instant multimillionaire. Amid reference books, camping and wilderness survival guides are How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci and Investing for Dummies.

The latter, his business adviser suggests, he doesn't need. A fiber optics company David picked up for $4.5 million already has almost $88 million in contracts, he says.

But whoa, we're getting ahead of ourselves. We haven't yet related how David Edwards almost missed the great bonanza, almost didn't make it in time to Clark's Pump 'n' Shop that fateful Saturday night.

80 million to 1

Just 10 minutes before lottery sales ended, David ducked into Clark's, plopped down $7 for seven selections, and though he knew the odds were 80 million to 1 against his winning, he rushed home like a man with a sure thing on the Derby to catch the results on TV.

"I waited for 30 minutes before it came on. Then I missed the winning numbers," said the affable fellow with the ponytail and tattoos.

Not yet convinced the 7 precious bucks went for naught, he and Shawna drove back to Clark's to get printouts of the winning numbers. Afterward, they decided to drop in at the Ashland Plaza -- "the only hotel in town" -- for a little music and a couple of drinks, the couple's first night out in several months.

As Shawna pulled into the hotel parking lot, David finally perused the winning numbers. Suddenly he was screaming and leaping out of the car, bobbing up and down on the ground, laughing and yelling like a man unhinged.